Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Senate subcommittee advances bill to speed utility storm securitization after Hurricane Helene
Summary
A Senate subcommittee voted to send legislation that would let utilities use estimated costs and a streamlined schedule to securitize storm-related debt — including costs from Hurricane Helene — to the full committee, while members pressed for guardrails to protect ratepayers.
A Senate Judiciary subcommittee voted to move S.157 (also referred to in the hearing materials as S.1507) to the full committee after hearing testimony about changes that would speed the securitization of storm-recovery costs for utilities and tighten consumer protections.
The measure would allow utilities to begin a financing order based on estimated storm costs and shorten the timeline that currently delays issuance, supporters said. President Alexander told the panel that the 2022 securitization law previously “saved the consumers by the use of this some over $30,000,000 maybe $35,000,000 that was saved.”
The bill’s proponents said the changes are intended to address unusually large, recent storm costs tied to Hurricane Helene and to reduce the time utilities carry debt on their books. A proponent identified in the hearing as Tiger said the proposal “will really streamline the securitization process” and estimated the measure could shorten issuance time from about 15 months under current law to about nine months by…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
